Zulfi Bukhari – a young man with dad’s money – doesn’t represent Pakistanis abroad: Lord Nazir

UK MP says Premier Imran lived in central London, only interacted with affluent

LAHORE: “A young boy with dad’s money might be a billionaire, I don’t know, but [what I know is that] he doesn’t understand the problems of the Pakistani diaspora in the United Kingdom. He doesn’t have anything to do with the community”.

Lord Nazir Ahmed, a member of the UK Parliament, said this about Zulfi Bukhari, the prime minister’s advisor on overseas Pakistanis, while speaking in Tribune24/7 show “Center Stage” on Wednesday.

“He doesn’t understand… he doesn’t live with the ordinary community members. He doesn’t understand the issues. Living in or around the Park Lane neighbourhood is very different than living in Bradford and East London and [understanding] what the community faces,” said Lord Nazir.

“Prime Minister Imran Khan has lived in Central London and hence his interaction had only been with the affluent people and none of his advisers has any industrial background. Some of them have made money only in real estate and banking sector,” he said.

Lord Nazir added that Premier Imran did not consult the overseas Pakistani community or even his own party’s representatives in the UK before appointing Bukahri as his adviser.



Asked about foreign investment in Pakistan, Lord Nazir said: “The government should listen to Pakistani businessmen [abroad]. It needs to create an environment conducive for business. Once Pakistani investors abroad invest in their country, then international businessmen will follow suit.”

The British MP said: “Prime Minister Imran ought to listen to his own people [businessmen and industrialists]. Like rulers of Dubai and Turkey, he should sit with Pakistani businessmen once a week and discuss how they could help boost Pakistan’s economy.”

On the return of British Airways to Pakistan, Lord Nazir said the PTI government is wrongly claiming credit for it. “In fact, the previous government had done a lot for this and I had also contributed my bit. The government is just dramatising things,” he said.

Talking about the situation in Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK), Lord Nazir, who himself is a Kashmiri, said that Indian occupation forces are using pellet guns against Kashmiri civilians. “BJP activists and extremist are involved in killings in Kashmir,” he added.

He said the situation in Kashmir is being discussed in the UK Parliament as 60 members of the House of Commons have published a report to highlight the issue.

He said that the previous Pakistani government had a non-serious attitude towards the Kashmir cause. “The appointment of Maulana Fazal Rehman as a chairman of the parliament’s Kashmir committee was the biggest mistake of the Nawaz government.”